Flames moving farm team after agreement with Abbotsford terminated halfway through 10-year pact

Scott Cruickshank, Calgary Herald04.15.2014

Abbotsford Mayor Bruce Banman, left, and Ken King, CEO, Calgary Flames listen to a question at a press conference announcing the departure of the Abbotsford Heat from the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre at the end of this season.

The City of Abbotsford — halfway through its 10-year deal with the Heat, primary affiliate of the Flames — has shelled out $5.5 million to terminate the arrangement.

As the playoff-bound Heat skates through the final week of the American Hockey League’s regular season, Abbotsford mayor Bruce Banman announced Tuesday that the relationship with the Flames was over.

And, because of a guaranteed-revenue clause, the deal will end up having cost taxpayers more than $12 million.

“The mayor used the term ‘bittersweet’ — but I don’t think there’s any sweetness associated with it,” Flames president Ken King said of the five-year partnership. “It was a wonderful place to develop hockey players. You’ve seen the product of their efforts. It’s a good Canadian city, 54 minutes away (by plane). Unfortunately, we couldn’t make it work.

“We could have been obstinate and stayed and cost the City many millions more. But we didn’t think that was appropriate.”

Despite setting up shop in the Vancouver Canucks’ backyard, there had been high hopes for the Heat, which made its debut in 2009.

“The City and its folks had made a completely confident assertion — based both on research and on the (10-year) deal they made with us — that it was going to be a slam-dunk,” said King. “Obviously, both things were wrong.”

This season, the Heat drew an average crowd of 3,007 to the 7,000-seat Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre. Only Portland, at 2,260 per night, was worse. At the other end of the attendance spectrum, Hershey averages 9,629 fans.

“I think the American league model is as difficult to make work . . . lots of teams have had challenges in lots of different markets,” said King. “That appears to be a fact of life. It’s a struggle to find a viable market. The question really becomes: what’s it going to cost you to operate your development system? Can you find a place that’s a great place to have young guys go and develop? That’s your real objective.”

The Flames, if nothing else, have experience in the process.

Since shifting their NHL headquarters to Calgary, the franchise’s affiliation has been well-travelled:

* Birmingham (CHL) — 1979-81

* Oklahoma City (CHL) — 1981-82

* Colorado (CHL) — 1982-84

* Moncton (AHL) — 1984-87

* Salt Lake City (IHL) — 1987-93

* Saint John (AHL) — 1993-03

* Lowell (AHL) — 2003-05

* Omaha (AHL) — 2005-07

* Quad City (AHL) — 2007-09

* Abbotsford (AHL) — 2009-14

And now where?

The Flames, despite relatively short notice, are not in a pickle.

“I’m really comfortable that we’re not in a lurch at all,” King said. “Because we’ve known it’s been a concern for some time, we’ve examined options . . . actually this isn’t the first year we’ve looked at options — we’ve looked at options the last couple years. So we have a choice of things we can do, but we’re not finished looking yet. We certainly have very viable options.”

Such as Glens Falls, N.Y.

Longtime base of the Adirondack Red Wings, the city was more recently home to the Philadelphia Flyers’ farm team, the Phantoms.

Now, with the Phantoms bound for Allentown, Penn., the Glens Falls Civic Center is vacant.

“It is a good option,” said King, “but it is one option.”

As he continues the search for a suitable minor-league landing spot, King is sensitive to geographical drawbacks.

“One of the challenges we had, notwithstanding the economics, was the team travel,” he said of the Heat, the lone AHL outfit in the Pacific time zone. “The team has played really well, but they’re up against massive travel, substantially fewer practice opportunities. So that’s one of the criteria — can you get in a location that’s efficient for travel? And can you put yourself in a city that’s the kind of place you’d want to be with young men that are developing to proceed to the NHL?”

As for Abbotsford, serving as AHL affiliate of the nearby Canucks would be ideal. Unfortunately, the NHL team is in Year 1 of a six-year agreement with Utica, N.Y.

“Here’s what’s not going to happen — we’re not going to panic and sign a deal unless it’s good for our taxpayers,” Banman told local reporters. “I think one of the worst things you can do is sign a deal out of desperation.”

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Flames moving farm team after agreement with Abbotsford terminated halfway through 10-year pact

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